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Hydro One confirms cause of transmission voltage disturbance

TORONTO, March 17, 2015 /CNW/ - Hydro One reports that at approximately 9:26 p.m. on March 16, it experienced a momentary issue on its transmission system that resulted in a voltage disturbance. As a result, customers across the province may have noticed a momentary flickering of their lights.

The cause of this event is still under investigation, however early reports indicate this was a unique occurrence. Reports also suggest this event was the result of an insulator, the piece of equipment that holds a power line off of a transmission tower, which broke and released a transmission line causing it to fall to the ground. This line also made contact with another transmission line as it fell.

The Company will investigate what role weather and salt contamination might have played in this event. Hydro One proactively monitors and mitigates salt contamination on its equipment through power-washing. These efforts have been hampered this year due to extreme and prolonged cold temperatures.

This event occurred in parking lot, near Hydro One's Richview Transformer Station in Etobicoke. Hydro One crews, fire and police attended the site last night. No injuries to the public or crews were reported. Crews made the site safe in order to enable repairs and to complete an inspection of electricity equipment in the vicinity. This work is currently ongoing.

Hydro One reports there were no power outages as result of this event.

Hydro One delivers electricity safely, reliably and responsibly to homes and businesses across the province of Ontario and owns and operates Ontario's 29,000 km high-voltage transmission network that delivers electricity to large industrial customers and municipal utilities, and a 123,000 km low-voltage distribution system that serves about 1.3 million end-use customers and smaller municipal utilities in the province. Hydro One is wholly owned by the Province of Ontario.

SOURCE Hydro One Inc.

For further information: contact Hydro One Media Relations 24 hours a day at 1-877-506-7584 (toll-free in Ontario only) or 416-345-6868. Our website is www.HydroOne.com.